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Monday, June 22, 2015

Megyn Kelly: New Star of Fox News

Megyn Kelly is bucking the conventional wisdom of what it means to be a Fox News
anchor. The take-no-prisoners newswoman isn’t afraid to throw hardballs
at Republicans. She recently lectured Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul over his
penchant for arguing with female reporters. She poked Jeb Bush about
whether he would have invaded Iraq in 2003. She cornered Mike Huckabee
for saying it was trashy for women to swear in public. Last year, she
told Dick Cheney, “History has proven that you got it wrong” on Iraq. On
Election Night 2012, she dared to question Karl Rove for claiming that
Barack Obama hadn’t won Ohio, and it went viral.

Just as surprisingly, she says she wouldn’t brawl with a certain
Democratic presidential candidate if she landed an exclusive with her.
“I think Hillary Clinton could handle me — easily,” Kelly says on a
recent afternoon in her Manhattan office. “That would be epic
television,” she muses. “Here she is, this powerful woman talking to
somebody who is also a woman in a powerful post, who would never be
accused of giving her a pass. Right? But I respect Hillary Clinton, and
all that she’s achieved.” Kelly makes the case that she’d be fair. “I’d
be under pressure, too. If you want to get big-name Democrats who are
running for president, do you want to annihilate them? Of course not.”

Kelly, 44, a former corporate
litigator who continues to gain prominence at the country’s biggest
news network, is poised to become a force in the 2016 election, and is
already set to co-moderate an Aug. 6 Republican primary debate. She will
need to seize that opportunity to try to prove her detractors wrong,
particularly the many liberals who still distrust her, and insist she’s
way too soft on her subjects.

But like everything on Fox, Kelly is controversial. Viewers and critics
are often befuddled, because they never know where she stands. She
sounds like a Democrat on social issues (she’s long defended the
transgender community) but a Republican on fiscal matters. Kelly tells Variety
she’s not a member of the GOP. “I have voted for both Democrats and
Republicans,” she says. “I’m an independent.” She believes her lack of
political ideology actually makes her a more effective reporter. “I’m
not rooting for anybody,” she says. “I’m a Fox News anchor, and I have
no horse in the race. I can give anyone a hard time.” When asked if she
considers herself a journalist or a personality, Kelly says, “I don’t
really separate the two. I just think of myself as Megyn Kelly —
broadcaster. You can do both.” (Full article at Variety)